Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

High-velocity microprojectiles for delivering nucleic acids into living cells

Abstract

We report here a novel phenomenon, namely that nucleic acids can be delivered into plant cells using high-velocity microprojec-tiles. This research was conducted in the hope of circumventing some of the inherent limitations of existing methods for delivering DNA into plant cells1–6. After being accelerated, small tungsten particles (microprojectiles) pierce cell walls and membranes and enter intact plant cells without killing them. Microprojectiles were used to carry RNA or DNA into epidermal tissue of onion and these molecules were subsequently expressed genetically. This approach can therefore be used to study the transient expression of foreign genes in an intact tissue. It remains to be shown that smaller cell types, as are found in regenerable plant tissues, can be stably transformed by this method. If this proves possible, it would appear to provide a broadly applicable transformation mechanism capable of circumventing the host-range restrictions of Agrobacterium tumefaciens1, and the regeneration problems of protoplast transformation2–5.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. 1. Fraley, R. T., Rogers, S. G. & Horsch, R. B. CRC crit. Rev. PL Sci. 4, 1–46 (1986). 2. Steinbiss, H. H. & Broughton, W. Int. Rev. Cytol. (Suppl.) 16, 191–207 (1983). 3. Lorz, H., Baker, B. & Schell, J. Molec. gen. Genet. 199, 178–182 (1985). 4. Potrykus, I., Saul, M. V., Petruska, J., Paszkowski, J. & Shillito, J. R. D. Molec. gen. Genet. 199, 183–188 (1985). 5. Fromm, M., Taylor, L. P. & Walbot, V. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 82, 5824–5828 (1985). 6. De la Pena, A., Lorz, H. & Schell, J. Nature 325, 274–276 (1987). 7. Sanford, J. C., Klein, T. M., Wolf, E. D. & Alien, N. Particle Sci. Technol. (in the press). 8. Christie, R. G. & Edwardson, J. R. Light and Electron Microscopy of Plant Virus Inclusions, Florida Agric. Exp. Station Monograph Ser. 9 (University of Florida, Gainesville, 1977). 9. Fukunaga, Y., Nagata, T. & Takebe, I. Virology 113, 752–760 (1981). 10. Fraley, R. T., Dellaporta, S. L. & Papahadjopoulos, D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 1859–1863 (1982). 11. Nishiguchi, M., Langridge, W. H. R., Szalay, A. A. & Zaitlin, M. PI. Cell Rep. 5,57–60 (1986). 12. Morelli, G., Nagy, F., Fraley, R. T., Rogers, S. G. & Chua, N.–H. Nature 315,200–204 (1985). 13. Crossway, A. et al. Molec. gen. Genet. 202, 179–185 (1986). 14. Brisson, N. & Hohn, T. Meth. Enzym. 118, 659–668 (1986). 15. Grimsley, N., Hohn, T., Davies, J. W. & Hohn, B. Nature 325, 177–179 (1987). 16. Hernalsteens, J.–P., Thia–Toong, L., Schell, J. & Van Montagu, M. EMBO J. 3, 3039–3041 (1984). 17. Hooykaas–Van Slogteren, G. M. S., Hooykaas, P. J. J. & Schilperoort, R. A. Nature 311, 763–764 (1984). 18. Ou–Lee, T. M., Turgeon, R. & Wu, R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83, 6815–6819 (1986). 19. Vasil, I. K. Int. Rev. Cytol. (Suppl.) 16, 79–88 (1983). 20. Potrykus, I. & Shillito, R. F. Meth. Enzym. 118, 549–578 (1986). 21. Zaitlin, M. in Nucleic Acids in Plants Vol. 2 (eds Hall, T. C. & Davis, J. W.) 31–64 (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 1979). 22. Coleman, A. W. & Goff, J. L. Stain Technol. 60, 145–154 (1985). 23. Hohn, T., Richards, K. & Lebeurier, G. Current Topics Microbiol. Immun. 96,193–236 (1982). 24. Alton, N. K. & Vapnek, D. Nature 282, 864–869 (1979). 25. Maniatis, T., Fritsch, E. F. & Sambrook, J. Molecular Cloning, a Laboratory Manual (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, 1982). 26. Gorman, C. M., Moffat, L. F. & Howard, B. H. Molec. cell. Biol. 2, 1044–1051 (1982).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Klein, T., Wolf, E., Wu, R. et al. High-velocity microprojectiles for delivering nucleic acids into living cells. Nature 327, 70–73 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/327070a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/327070a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing